Customs duty refund after assessment before clearance remains subject to section 27(2) and cannot be treated as a pre-deposit.

A refund of customs duty paid pursuant to assessment after importation but before clearance remained subject to the statutory conditions in section 27(2). The amount could not be treated as a mere pre-deposit or excluded from that requirement simply because it was paid pending dispute. The decisive issue was the applicability of the refund conditions on the facts, and the Tribunal found it unnecessary to rely on the Board circular or on analogy with section 35F of the Central Excise Act. Compliance with section 27(2) was therefore mandatory before refund could be granted.

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Issues: Whether the refund amount paid pursuant to assessment after importation and before clearance was liable to be dealt with under section 27(2), and whether it could be treated as a pre-deposit exempt from that condition.

Analysis: The refund claim arose from duty paid on import of a ship for scrapping. The amount was paid consequent to assessment after importation and before clearance, so it was not a payment made subsequent to clearance. On that footing, the statutory requirements of section 27(2) had to be satisfied before the amount could be refunded. The Tribunal found it unnecessary to examine the Board circular or the analogy drawn from amounts deposited under section 35F of the Central Excise Act, because the decisive question was whether the statutory condition in section 27(2) applied on the facts.

Conclusion: The amount was not a mere pre-deposit, and compliance with section 27(2) was mandatory; the refund could not be paid without satisfying that condition.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded and the order granting refund was set aside, with the original direction to credit the amount to the Consumer Welfare Fund restored.

Ratio Decidendi: A refund of customs duty paid pursuant to assessment before clearance remains subject to section 27(2), and it cannot be treated as an excluded pre-deposit merely because the payment was made pending appeal.

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